The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1887-09-28

magnanimity, as IN the case just mem
toned, it will become common thing.
| know of scores of great business houses
that have had their opportunity of vast
accumulation and who ought to quit
But perhaps for all the days of this gem
Grafton the struggle of small houses to
keep above under the overshadowing
pressure Of great houses will con-
| tinue; therefore, taking things as they
are, you will be wise to preserve your
equilibrium and your honesty and your
faith, and throw over all the counters
and shelves and barrels and hogsheads
and cotton bales and rice casks the meas
uring line Of divine right. "And the
| Lord said unto me, Amos, what seest
thou! and said, A plumb line"
In the same way we need to measure
our theologies. All sorts Of religions are
putting forth their pretensions. Some
have a spiritualistic religion, and their
chief work is with ghosts, and others a
religion Of political economy proposing to
put an end to human misery by a new
| style of taxation, and there is a hnmani-
| tartan religion that looks after the body
of men and lets the soul look after itself,
and there is legislative religion that
proposes to rectify all wrongs by enact
ment of better laws, and there is an
aesthetic religion that by rules of exquisite
taste would lift the heart out of its de-
forInities. and religions of all sorts, rehg.
ions by the peck, religions by the square
foot, and religions by the ton-all of
them devices of the devil that would take
the heart away from the only religion
that will ever effect anything for the hui
man race, and that is the straight up and
down religion written in the book, which
begins with Genesis and ends with Rev
citation, the religion of the skies, the old
religion, the God given religion, the ever
lasting religion, which says: love God
above all and your neighbor as yourself"
All religions but this one begin at the
wrong end and In tse wrong place. The
Bible religion demands that we first get
right with God. 1t begins at the top and
measures down, while the other religions
begin at the bottom and try to measure
up. They stand at the foot of the wall,
up to their knees in the mud of human
theory and speculation, and have plum
met and a string tied fast to it. And
they throw the plummet this way, and
break head there, and thow the plum
met another way, and break head there,
and then they throw it up, and it comes
| dON IL upDu ltlNlI phIl pau IODlD. w lily
will you stand at the foot of the wall
measuring up when you ought to stand
DIT the top measuring down? few
days ago / was in the country, thirsty
after long walk. And l came in, and
my child was blowing soap bubbles, and
they rolled out of the cup, blue and gold
and green and sparkling and beautiful
and orbicular, and in SO small a space /
| Ct,lapflor tod
But she blew once too often, and all the
glory vanished into suds. Then turned
and took glass of plain water, and was
| refreshed And so far as soul thirst is
concerned, put against all the glowing,
glittering soap bubbles of worldly reform
and human speculation, one draught
from the fountain from under the throne
of God, clear as crystal. Glory be to
God for the religion that drops from
above, not coming up from beneath!
"And the Lord said unto me, Amos,
what seest thou? and l said, A plumb
line"
/ want you to notice this fact, that
when a man gives up the straight up
and down religion in the Bible for any
new tangled religion, il is generally to
suit his sins. You !. hear of his
change of religion, an,. YOU hear of
some swindle he has p.,.cticed in Colo
RADIO mining stock, telling some one if he
will put in $4,000 he can take out
800, 900, or he has sacrificed his chastity,
or plunged into irremediable worldliness.
His sins are so broad he has to broaden
his religion and he becomes as broad as
temptation, as broad as the soul s dark
ness, as broad as hell. They want re-
ligion That will allow them to keep their
sins, and then at death say to them;
"Well done, good and faithful servant"
and that tells them: GAN is well, for
there is no hell" What a glorious
heaven they hold before us! Come, let
us go in and see it. There is lIerod and
all the babes he massacred. There is
Charles Guiteau and Jim Fisk and
RobespierTe, the friend of the French
guillotine, and all the liars, thieves,
house burners, garroters, pickpockets and
hbertines of all the centuries. They have
all got crowns and thrones and harps and
scepters, and when they chant they sing:
Thanksgiving and honor and glory and
power to the broad religion that let us all
into heaven without repentance and faith
in those disgraceful dogmas of ecclesiasti-
cal old fogyism."
My text gives me grand opportunity
of saying useful word to all young men
who are now forming habits for a life
time. OF what use to stonemason or
bricklayer is a plumb line? Why not
build the wall by the unaided eye and
hand Because they are insufficient, be-
cause If there be a DETECTION in the wall
1t cannot further on be corrected. Be
cause by the law of gravitatlon a wall
must be straight in order to be symmet-
rlcal and safe. A young man is in dam
ger of getting defect in his wall of
character that may never be corrected.
One of the best friends ever had died of
delirium tremens at sixty years of age,
though he had not since twenty-one years
of age-before which he had been dissi-
pated-touched Intoxicating liquor until
that particular carousal that took him
off. Not feeling well in a street on a hot
summer day, he stepped into drug store,
Just as you or l would have done, and
asked for dose of something to make
him feel better. And there was alcohol
in the dose, and that one drop aroused
the old appetite, and he entered the first
liquor store, and stayed there until thor
oughly under the power of rum. He en-
tered his home a raving maniac. his wife
and daughter fleeing from his presence,
until he was taken TO the city hospital to
die. The combustible material of early
habit had lain quiet nearly forty
years, and that one spark ignited the con-
Migration. Remember that the wall may
be one hundred feet high, and vet defiec-
ton one foot from the foundation affects
the entire structure. And if you live a
hundred years and do right the last eighty
years, you may nevertheless do something
at twenty years of age that win damage
all your earthly existence. All you who
have built houses for yourselves or for
others, am not right in saying to these
young men, you cannot build wall so
high as to be indepenent of the character
of its foundation? A man before 80
years OF age may commit enough sin to
last him a lifetime. A cat that has killed
one pigeon cannot be cured Keep it
from killing the first pigeon. Now John,
or George, or Charles, or William, or
Alexander, or Andrew, or Henry, or
| whatever be your Christian name or sur
name. say here and now: mo wild oats
for me; no cigars or cigarettes for me:
no VINE or beer for me; no nasty stories
Tor me; no Sunday sprees for me. am
gong to start right and keep on right.
God help me, for am very weak. From
the throne of eternal righteousness let
down to me the principles by which 1
can be guided in building everything
from foundation to capstone. Lord God,
by the wounded hand of Christ, throw
me a plumb line.''
Lord Nelson's general direction when
going into naval battle was: No man can
do wrong that places his ship close along
side that of the enemy. Ny friend, YOU
viii never do wrong if you keep your life